Folding chair



E. E. FREY FOLDING CHAIR Oct. 19, 1937.

Filed Feb.

l2, 1936 2 Sheets-Sheet l .Efforney Oct.

E- E- FREY FOLDING CHAIR Filed Feb. l2, 1936 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Oct. 19, 1937 PATENT OFFICE FOLDING CHAIR Elmer E. Frey, Los Angeles, Calif., assigner to Kittle Manufacturing Company,

Los Angeles,

Calif., a copartnership consisting of John P.

Meehan, Rose B. Leonard Meehan, and Grace K.

Application February 12, 1936, Serial No. 63,518 2 Claims. (Cl. 155-140) My invention relates to folding chairs and among its objects I aim to provide a folding chair which is strong, durable, easily folded and set up; one which, when folded, occupies a minimum of space; one which is comfortable and one which is composed of such construction and association of parts that it may be economically manufactured.

With the above objects in view. as well as others which will appear as the specification proceeds, my invention comprises the construction, ar-

f rangement and combination of parts as now to be fully described and as hereinafter to be specifically claimed, it being understood that the disclosure herein is merely illustrative and meant in no way in a limiting sense, changes in details of construction and arrangement of parts being permissible so long as within the spirit of the invention and the scope of the appended claims.

The accompanying drawings illustrate a preferred embodiment of my invention, and referring thereto:

Fig. 1 is a perspective of a chair embodying the invention (set up), parts of the seat and back members being broken away for illustrative purd pOSeSi Fig. 2 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view taken on line 2-2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged view illustrating one of the back-post terminals (looking from the back of the chair towards the front) Fig. 4 illustrates a variational form of my invention, in perspective, the chair being shown in partially collapsed position; and

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary view showing one of the front corner posts in vertical section.

Referring to Figs. 1, 2 and 3, the frame structure is composed of two identical side members generally designated by the letters D and E, respectively, and two support members generally designated F and G, respectively.

Side members D and E are each formed preferably of a single bar of channel iron concavo-con vex in cross-section and bent to form a. .vertically extending front side post II, I2, a horizontal arm rest I5, I6 and a vertically disposed back-support post I1, I8. Back corner post I9 is aflixed at one of its ends to post I1 by being spot-welded in the channel thereof and a back corner post 20 is likewise affixed to postl I8, these corner posts I9, 26 being likewise preferably composed of channel iron. A collar 25, 26 (see Fig. 3) is aixed, as by spot-welding, to each of posts I9, 20. Only collar 25 is shown in Fig. 3, and from an inspection thereof it will be seen that the collar has a channel portion 25a which fits over and is s potwelded to the convex front face of post I9. It has a. flat front face to which seat frame element 31 (to be described) is attached, and projecting forwardly from its front face and formed as an integral part of the collar member there is a stop finger 21 whose function will be later described. Collar 26 is similarly formed and mounted and has a stop flnger 28.

' Support member F is preferably of channel iron of similar cross-section formed into substantially a rectangular frame comprising front and back bars 36, 31, respectively, seat support bar 35 and bottom bar 38-front bar 36 being pivotally connected adjacent seat bar 35 to front post II by means of a pivot pin 3| which passes through bark II and bar 36. Member G is likewise of channel iron similarly formed into a substantially rectangular frame comprising front and back bars 43, 44, respectively, seat support channel bar bent into a substantially rectangular frameandwhose ends overlap and are spot-welded together as shown at S and S'. Spot welded to post I I and interposed between that post and bar 36 at the point of their pivotal connection is a flat-faced plate 3Ia, and likewise affixed to post I2 and interposed between that post and bar 43 at the point of their pivotal connection is a similar plate 4I a.

Supports F and G are assembled in the form of an X, with their channels facing inwardly, and are pivotally connected together at the medial portions of their front and back bars respectively by pins 41, 48 for scissorwise movement with respect to each other. A flat-faced plate 49 is affixed to bar 43 and interposed between thatv bar and bar 36 at the point of their pivotal connection 41, and a like plate-50 is afxed to bar 44 and interposed between that bar and bar 31 at the point of their pivotal connection 48-the plates 49 and 50 being aiiixed to their respective bars by being spot-welded thereto and the pin forming the pivotal connection for the respective bars passes through the plate. 'I'he front and back bars 36, 31 of member F each has an inwardly offset portion intermediate its ends so that member F may be mounted inside of frame G. Bar 31 is pivotally connected to the front fiat face of collar by pin 30 which passes through bar 31, collar 25 and post I9; and bar 44 is similarly pivotally connected to the front flat face of collar 26 Vby a pin (not shown) which Apasses through bar M, collar 28 and post 20.

To permit collapse or folding of the chair, front bars Il and I6 are pivotally attached to respec tive sliding bars mounted in the channels of the respective front posts. For instance bar is p ivotally connected, by pin 50, to bar II which is longitudinally slidably mounted in the channel Vof front post II, a guard 52 being aiilxed, as by spot-welding, to post II over its channel to prevent lateral displacement of bar 5I from the channel. While the connection is not fully visible in the drawings, front bar I6 is likewise pivoted to an identical longitudinally slidable bar carried in the channel of front post I2 and which bar is held against lateral displacement from the channel of post I2 bya guard M spot-welded to post I2. 'I'he chair is locked in its open or unfolded position by a pair of cross members 60, Il each of which .is hingedly connected at one end to a bracket 00a, lila riveted to bar l5 in the channel thereof and hingedly connected at the other end to a bracket 60h, SIb riveted to bar 38 in the channel thereof. Members 60, BI are each comprised of two sections hingedly connected together by pins 62, 63, a stop 6l, 85 being provided -on the top of the overlapping portion of each o! members, 6I to lock the chair in open position when members 60, 6I are horizontal. Cross bar 66 ailixed by rivets at one of its ends to bar lll and at its other end to bar 6I laterally connects the bars 60, 6I and causes them to swing upwardly and downwardly simultaneously during folding and setting up of the chair.

As the seat member, I preferably employ a fabric I0 aillxed at one side to bar 35 and at its other side to bar 42; and as the back rest I use a fabric I2 afilxed at one side to posts I'l-I8 and at its other side to posts IB-2IL It will vbe understood, however, that any foldableor collapsible material may be substituted for the fabric shown.

Fig. i'shows my chair in open condition,v ready for use. To fold it, one merely liftscross member BII slightly with his toe and compresses the armrests together, which causes theX-shaped frame to fold in a scissorwise movement until i'rame members D andrEcome together. Conversely, to set up or unfold the chair, the rarm rests are pulled apart until cross-bars 60, 8l are locked in a horizontal position.

In the variational form illustrated (illustrating the chair in semi-collapsed position) support frame members F and G are the same as before described and their components are given the same reference numerals. In fact the only respect in which this form differs from that previously described is in the back corner posts. Here, for instance, back corner post B0 is formed as a vertically downwardly extending continuation of the channel bar which forms front post II, arm rest I5 and back-restpost II; and back corner post BI is likewise formed as a continuation of the channel bar which forms front post I2, arm rest I6 and back-rest post Il. Bar l1 is pivotally connected to post at the point of the fiat-faced plate 82 which is amxedto post 80 over the channel thereof (as by spot-welding) and is interposed between post 80 and bai 31 at the point of their pivotal connection. Bar M is likewise pivotally connected to post' II at the point of the fiat-faced plate 83 which is similarly aililxed to post 8l and interposed between post 8i and bar M at the point of their pivotal connection. Longitudinally slidably carried in the chanin Fig. 4

nel of post 80 is a bar I4 which is pivotally connected at to bar u adjacent its lower end, a guard Il being spot-welded to post IU over the channel thereof to preventy lateral displacement of bar-ll from the channel. Similarly mounted, in post II. is a bar Il pivotalLv connected at l1 to bar I1 adjacent its lower end, a guard Il` being spot-welded to post II over the channelthereof to prevent lateral displacement of bar 8l from the channel.

In this form of device. the back-rest support post I1 and corner post l0 form a U-bend Il at the top of the chair and post I8 and post Ily also form a like U-bend il, the channels of members I1, 80 and of I8, Il facing each other through.

out the vertical extent of posts I1 and Il. -A

fabric back-rest 9i having hems it, 01. one at each of its ends, is. slipped over the respective back corner posts and back-rest support posts as shown in Fig. 4.r Forillustrativepurposes, the seat fabric 'III is shownin. dotted lines in Fig. 4.

It will be seen that the construction, arrangement andcombination of parts above described,

provide a chair of extremely sturdy construction. By integrally forming the major `frame elements of channel bars, great economy of manufacture is possible without the chair being unduly heavy and withoutsacriilce of strength. Although the frame members are composedprincipally of concavo-convex channel iron, uniformly and easily operablel Apivotal connections are provided between various of the frame elements by virtue of the fiat-faced plates interposed between the abutting convex and concave faces at the points of the various pivotal connections. The only sliding connections are those at the bottom of the chair where the members F and G are connected to the respective sliding bars carried in the respective front corner post "channels, and l all the other pivotal connections are a substantial distance below the arm rests. Therefore, since the chair is folded and opened by urging the arm rests apart or together, as the case may be, there is no sliding part nor any pivotal connection to pinch the operator as is usually the case with folding chairs. When folded,the chair utilizes a minimum of space.

I claim:

1. In a folding chair, a seat supporting element comprised of two rectangular seat-supporting frames pivotally connected .together for scissorwise movement in a vertical plane with respect to each other and each having an upper and a lower horizontally disposed end element, the lower one of which forms a foot member and the upper one oi' which forms a seat support, a pair of side frame elements each presenting a corner post extending upwardly from a footsnember, a-slider telescopically mounted in the lower end of each said post andvbeing telescopically extensible below the" lower end of said post. each Vof said rectangular frames being lpivotally connected adjacent its foot member to the slider in one of said corner posts/and pivotally connected adjacent its seat supportY to the other ofl said corner posts, and a brace member extending crosswise of the chairfrom one to the other of and a lower horizontally disposed end member;

.the foot members of the rectangular frames to e prevent their relative movement.

' 2,096,287 4 the lower one o1' which forms a foot member and the upper `one of which forms a seat support side frames, one at each side o1' the chair, each being comprised of' a corner post extending from a foot comer of one of the seat supporting frames upwardly to a point spaced above the upper end member of the other seat supporting frame, thence backwardly to form' an arm rest and thence downwardly to the upper end of the last 10 mentioned seat supporting frame, said side frames being pivotally connected to'the seat supporting element adjacent the saldseat supports, a stop finger carried by each side frame and cooperating with the seat supporting element to prevent collapse thereof in one direction, a slide bar telescopically mounted in the bottom end vof each corner post, one of said seat supporting 

